Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn has factories just about everywhere in the world, and they make stuff for just about every gadget company that you can think of. This makes any news coming out of the company, from 2010’s suicide cluster to last year’s explosion, fascinating to us. But it’s hard to look at your Xbox quite the same way after learning that hundreds of Foxconn workers reportedly took to the roof and threatened suicide over severance payments. [More]

It’s difficult to imagine such a rustic, primitive existence, but Dustin doesn’t have broadband Internet access at home. He seems to manage, though. Except when it comes to his Xbox 360. When he downloaded a game expansion, a Microsoft representative gave him bad advice, instructing him to put his hard drive in the console of a friend who does have broadband at home. The representative left out a step, and the game expansion license now belongs to Dustin’s friend’s account. No one at Microsoft is able to help him get the content back under his own gamertag so he can use the content he paid for. [More]

That Xbox 360 update that makes gamers promise not to sue and reportedly broke some consoles also may have brought another annoyance along with it. Reports say updated machines have trouble properly playing video, making colors appear washed out. [More]

Last week’s exciting Kinect Dashboard update for Xbox 360 consoles didn’t just ask users to waive their right to sue and make customers pay to be advertised to. It also appears to have caused problems with a number of consoles. Nothing major: it just keeps them from reading any discs…no, wait, that is major. Microsoft representatives say that this is a coincidence, and that customers with freshly broken consoles need to send them in for repair for $100 or so. [More]

Starting tomorrow, an update to the Xbox 360’s dashboard will integrate its Kinect motion/voice-detection system and Microsoft’s Bing search engine in the hopes of creating a truly hands-free entertainment experience. But does it work? [More]

It’s been reported for quite some time that Xbox 360 users would eventually get access to more streaming video options. Earlier today, Microsoft announced that it has partnered with a number of content providers to bring content from HBO, SyFy and even more for Comcast and Verizon FiOS subscribers. [More]

A security snafu banned an unconfirmed number of users from Xbox Live. Now Microsoft has admitted to the mistake and issued an apology to those affected. The Xbox cops have revoked the ban and credited the innocent with three free month of Xbox Live and $20 worth of Microsoft Points. [More]

Microsoft has been plotting out its plan to imbue Xbox 360s with cable box-like TV powers for months, and is now gearing up to launch the live TV service, which it says will include “news, sports and your favorite channels” as well as on-demand video. [More]

It was probably a glitch and not a nefarious plot on Dell’s part, but Chris found it odd when he tried to take advantage of Microsoft’s back-to-school promo where a free Xbox comes with certain Windows laptops. Dell’s site kept showing that adding on the free Xbox promo made his total $100 higher than with just the computer. Huh? [More]

For Xbox 360 users to have access to online gaming, they need to get a paid subscription to Microsoft’s Xbox Live Gold service. But a new lawsuit alleges that the service’s “vague and onerous terms of use,” are leading subscribers to be double-billed. [More]

Judging from the bulk of Microsoft’s major announcements at its E3 press conference Monday, the company doesn’t want Xbox 360 owners to turn off its machine when they want to watch TV rather than play games. A fall system update will deliver Bing-powered voice web search, a YouTube app and an unnamed TV-streaming service. [More]

Hulu Plus, which charges viewers $8 a month to watch an expanded library of shows while still making them suffer through commercials, is finally heading to the Xbox 360, according to a scan of the print edition of Official Xbox Magazine sent in to Joystiq. [More]